


We All Need A Reason

by iantomustdie



Category: Avenged Sevenfold, My Chemical Romance
Genre: Post-Apocalypse
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2015-11-16
Updated: 2016-12-31
Packaged: 2018-05-02 00:23:00
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 4
Words: 3,974
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/5226788
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/iantomustdie/pseuds/iantomustdie
Summary: <blockquote class="userstuff">
              <p>There were bombs falling from the sky. I looked over at my daughter Val, who had tears streaming down her little face. She was wearing a look on her face that she knew what was going to happen. You were able to hear the tiny whistles coming from the bombs dropping from the sky. It's funny how the government can cause so much destruction within a matter of hours. I remember the whistles getting louder and louder. It went quiet for a moment, only for it to start again. The sounds slowly started shifting towards the right, where we were standing. The gunfire had started up and screams were heard. I remember telling my daughter to run as fast as she could as I had gotten shot in the leg. She was only five when they took her. They took my daughter and now they are going to pay for it.</p>
            </blockquote>





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

> Alright so, this is the first time I've ever posted my 'works' onto a site so.....enjoy? Also, apologies for the possible grammar and spelling mistakes as English isn't my first language.
> 
> Apologies for the extremely late update.

There were bombs falling from the sky. I looked over at my daughter Val, who had tears streaming down her little face. She was wearing a look on her face that she knew what was going to happen. You were able to hear the tiny whistles coming from the bombs dropping from the sky. It's funny how the government can cause so much destruction within a matter of hours. I remember the whistles getting louder and louder. It went quiet for a moment, only for it to start again. The sounds slowly started shifting towards the right, where we were standing. The gunfire had started up and screams were heard. I remember telling my daughter to run as fast as she could as I had gotten shot in the leg. She was only five when they took her. They took my daughter and now they are going to pay for it.

I woke up startled by the flashback/nightmare hybrid that haunts my dreams. I look around and quickly recognize my surroundings. I was laying on a single bed, the sheets were tinted red with someone's blood. There was blood everywhere in this room. A crib, placed across the room lays undisturbed. The pale blue walls were speckled with blood. A blue chair that's in a corner, holds someone in it. I quickly pull my gun from its holster and aim it towards the figure.  
"Whoa, chill out! It's just me pretty boy." He holds his hands up in the air in surrender and slowly gets up from the chair. It was just the 'leader' , the one person who decided to start calling me pretty boy. A self-esteem boost I assume.

I get up from the bed and walk through the doorway into the family room in this small Californian home. We kept trying to find safe houses within the state but most of them had become overrun with those.. things. We were slowly making our way towards Ottawa, Canada. The crew keeps telling me that I should just accept the fact that Val is dead. I don't say shit like that when they keep trying to look for Johnny. I refuse to believe that she's dead even though it's been over 5 years since she's been gone.  
The family room is quite small, five chairs surround a dinner table in the middle of the room. Three people sat in the chairs, quietly talking among themselves. In this 'crew' I somehow managed to be a part of is Zack, Matt, Frank and Brian.  
Zack is the brains of the group, he's always thinking of new strategies during a battle or just to avoid being killed by those things. Frank, the short but fast one makes the runs for supplies. Matt, the leader of the group who keeps us all in line and prevents us from beating the shit out of each other. Lastly, there is Brian, the person who thinks the whole god damn world revolves around him. I forgot to introduce myself also. My name is Jimmy Sullivan and I am a part of this dysfunctional group that's making their way towards Canada. A recipe for disaster, really.

I sat in one of the vacant chairs and joined in with the talk about tonight. Matt had also sat down to discuss.  
"So when are we going to start tonight?" Zack asks right before he shoves a tea biscuit into his mouth. That was the last one too..  
"I'd say probably around eleven just to make sure we aren't getting followed this time." I note.  
"Yeah let's listen to the kid who nearly got us fucking killed last time!" Brian yells.  
"Brian, will you please shut the fuck up for once? That was the only time Jimmy had done that. How many times have you failed to watch our backs? Do you remember what happened to Johnny? You didn't watch his back and now he's gone!" Matt says.

Brian lowered his head in submission and retreated to the room that I had woken up in. I knew there was five of them at one point but I never knew that Brian was the reason why there is only four today. I wanted to know about this Johnny person but I was also afraid of asking in case I end up pissing someone off.  
"Do you want to know about Johnny?" Matt asks. I nod my head.  
"Johnny was a good kid. He was only sixteen when this all started. He was so young Jimmy, still a kid. He was always eager to learn something new, it always made him happy. After a few months we had taught him everything we knew because we were also still learning ourselves." Matt says, looking at his hands and playing with them.  
"He always told the truth, always refused to tell a lie. I'm still amazed at how he ended up with us. He made us get our shit together and act like a team. It isn't like that anymore as you can see, we're always in each others faces. I just really miss him, we all do." Matt finishes as he pulls out a cigarette from his jacket pocket. This is going to be a long trip, that's for sure.


	2. The Incident

Once everyone had gotten everything together, physically and mentally, we started our journey towards Las Vegas. It should take us about 2 weeks to get there if we walk non-stop, but I highly doubt we will. I can’t help but get this feeling that heading towards a once highly populated place will be wise for us because it probably means there is a higher volume of those monsters.  
“Jimmy, you have all the water and ammunition?” Frank asks. We were leaving this once beautiful home for the last time, so we better have everything we need unless we want to risk doing a lot of supply runs.  
“Yes sir. Are you sure you guys still want to follow me to Ottawa? I mean, it’s almost 3,000 miles.” I question.  
“Well, I guess so. I don’t see us doing anything better than just sitting around that house and hoping everything will turn back to normal. It would be nice to find out why the fuck this happened in the first place, and hopefully find Johnny there if you say Val is there.” Zack chimes in.  
“And if we don’t find Johnny? Then what? Walk ourselves back to California? The smart thing to do is to just let Jimmy do what he wants to do. Let him get himself killed.” Brian sneers.  
“Then we fucking find a new place to stay. We are going there blind, without any evidence Johnny is even there! If you want to stay behind, be my fucking guest Brian. I’m getting tired of this attitude towards Jimmy, Brian. Just remember he saved your ass, even though that almost got him killed.” Matt yells.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
I remember that night clearly. We were on a supply run for food and water. The wind was chilly for the middle of summer, especially in Long Beach. Frank, Matt and Zack were in a home that looked like it had been recently evacuated. Brian and I were on lookout to see if there are any people or monsters around. Brian had been sitting on a rock strategically placed around the plants in the front lawn, making the house look like it was in the forest, despite the large neighbourhood surrounding it. The night was uneventful until there was a large group of monsters that started to appear in the street.

“Brian, go warn the others. Tell them to leave quietly, the group hasn’t spotted us yet so we still have time to leave uninjured.” I whisper.  
“Don’t fucking tell me what to do Sullivan. We can take them- “Brian cuts off as soon as screams were heard from a house down the street.  
Brian’s head snaps towards a home where the screams were emitting from and starts to run towards it. Fuck.  
“Matt, Zack, Frank!” I yell before I dash towards where Brian had left.

The street was filled with monsters, and Brian had started shooting one by one, killing each monster he passed by. I started shooting also, even though it wasn’t the best option we had at that time. Brian kept running until he was in front of the house, and peered into the broken-down door. He didn’t see anything so he stepped inside and searched immediately got surrounded by the monsters. I ran in and started shooting each monster that was around him. Once all the monsters in the house were dead-again, I tried bringing him back towards the rest of the group were.

“There’s someone in here! Someone that’s still alive! Listen!” Brian yells.  
The group that was on the street had started coming towards our direction. We didn’t have enough time to search this house. Brian ran upstairs and looked in every room, desperately trying to find the person in trouble. I followed him cautiously. The last room he didn’t check, the door was closed and you could hear whatever was on the other side of that door. He quietly opened the door and saw 5 monsters in the room surrounding something. The only difference between the monsters was that they were ‘turned’ longer, meaning they were harder to kill and stronger. Brian started shooting at them and immediately got overrun by them. He fought most of them off but was struggling. I ran towards him, killing 2 of the monsters. Brian was fighting a losing battle. I distracted the monsters by grabbing one of them and repeatedly stabbed them with my knife. As they were distracted, Brian went to go check on what they were surrounding. While I was fighting them, one had broken my foot and tried to bite anywhere they could. I yelled for Brian but he did not respond. Matt, Zack and Frank had showed up and killed the remaining 3 monsters. The monster that was on top of me, its blood had been splattered all over me. I lay there, trying to register what had happened and try to not focus on the pain emitting from my newly broken foot.  
\-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------  
“You went into that house for nothing Brian. The person you heard that night was already gone before you tried to help.” Zack says.  
“I didn’t know it was just the kid there...” Brain lowers his head.  
“Look, we hold nothing against you for it, just stop treating Jimmy like shit all the time. He fucking risked his life for you.” Frank adds.  
“We should start walking now. Maybe we can find a vehicle that has gasoline left in it.” Zack says. This is going to be a long fucking walk.


	3. Anxiety

The first week, there were no monsters around and we couldn’t find a vehicle that had not been severely damaged. We were near Victorville, and the sun was killing us. All of us were severely sunburned and in desperate need of water. We were all sitting in a house that had been abandoned a couple years before the fallout.   
“You guys reconsidering your choice?” I ask.  
“No, once we get more north then we’ll be good. It’s just the fucking sun that’s killing us.” Frank groans. We all were sitting on the various pieces of worn out furniture, desperately trying to cool down.  
“We need water. There’s a store that’s just down the street, maybe there is some left.” Zack says.  
Frank was the first one to get up and walk towards the front door.  
“Who’s coming with me?” Frank asks.  
“I will.” I say.

We parted ways with Matt, Brian and Zack to go grab some water food and other essentials. Frank lead the way while I just followed him down the street. There were no monsters left around, for now.  
“Frank, when did you meet up with this group?” I ask.  
“Uh, maybe around a year into this mess. My previous group split up with each other while we were on a supply run. I went back to where we were staying and everything was gone. Everyone had left, and I’m not sure if they are alive or not.” Frank says.  
“You never know you’ll run into them again sometime.” I say.  
“it would be really nice knowing if they are alive or not, but I’m not getting my hopes up.” Frank says as he climbs over a tree that has fallen in front of the store entrance.  
Frank walked into the store and looked at what remained. There was blood splattered all over the floor and bodies were everywhere. The stench was awful but we knew we still had to find our needed items. Everything was almost cleared out, except for a few cans of soup and some boxes of crackers.  
”Maybe we should check the back to see if there is any water or anything else.” Frank suggests.

We grabbed the soup and crackers and slowly started to fill our bags. We walked towards the back room and quietly looked around. There was a door that had a manager’s office sign on it and noises were emitting from it, and they didn’t sound human. We both stood on both sides of the door.  
“Okay, on three we open and kill that fucker.” I say. Frank nods. “One, two… three!”   
We quickly open the door and are horrified by what we saw. There were dead bodies strung up on the ceiling and there were some that were barely alive. We look to see the monster eating one of them until it noticed us. It stops and looked at us, and then started dashing towards us. I quickly lift my gun and start shooting at it.   
The monster almost seemed like the bullets didn’t bother it until I started shooting its head. After a few headshots, it falls to the floor.   
“What the fuck is this? Are these fucking things smart? Like to the point where they can torture people?” Frank yells. The thought of those things can do something like this is terrifying. Knowing they can do this means they can do other fucked up things like this.

“What do we do with the ones that are still alive? They were bit numerous times and they are nearly dead.” I ask.  
“We can just end it for them, make sure they don’t turn into one of those things y’know? I think you should do it though, I don’t think I would be able to.” Frank says quietly. I nod and look at the door we just came through. I could slowly feel my heartrate rising. He took it as his queue to leave, and quietly walked out of the room.   
I stare at the people struggling to breathe and slowly bring my gun up to one of their heads. I made the mistake of looking this person in the eye. I could see every emotion running through them. Sadness, happiness… fear. I close my eyes and pull the trigger. I didn’t want to look the rest in the eyes so I kept my eyes down and shot them all. Killing the monsters was easier than doing this. 

I stare at what I’ve just done and start to feel the anxiety attack kick in. I never wanted to be a part of this. Sometimes I wish I had died when this all started. I killed the monsters because it was either me or them. Now I’m killing humans, I’m choosing their fate for them. It’s just something that will never sit right with me. I start to calm down and I look towards the door. Frank is standing there, staring at me with wide eyes.  
“I never said I wanted to do this.” I say quietly.  
I slowly walk towards the door and passed Frank. I look around the storage room of the store and turn up empty handed for water.   
“I grabbed them in case you didn’t want to stick around this place any longer.” Frank says. I look at him and silently thank him.   
“We should head back to the others so they don’t start searching for us.” We start heading to the front entrance and over the fallen tree.

The walk back to the run-down house was silent. We just walked and made sure no monsters were around.   
“Hey how did the supply run go?” Zack asks as soon as we walk in the door.  
“It went… alright I guess.” Frank says as he looks at the floor.  
“What do you mean? What happened?” Matt asks. I quickly look at Frank and gain his attention. I silently plead him to not say anything about what I did. He didn’t listen.  
“Well… the creature things, they seem to be smarter than what we thought. They hung up people that were alive to the ceiling and let them hang there, then they started feeding off them. They are getting stronger too. Jimmy shot one in the head numerous times and it didn’t die until the fifth or sixth shot.”

“Jimmy, you look rough man.” Zack says.  
“Yeah… I guess the walking finally got to me. I think I’ll take watch tonight. You guys should get some rest for tomorrow.” I suggest.  
“Jimmy listen. You always take watch and you never sleep anymore. You barely eat or drink anything anymore too.” Matt says.  
“I do eat and drink, it isn’t always around you guys.” I argue.  
“Let the bitch take watch, let him destroy himself.” Brian snickers while everyone glares at him.  
“Shut up Brian. Jimmy, you can take watch tonight but we aren’t going anywhere until you finally sleep.” Matt orders. Everyone nods and go to where the beds are all lined up beside the fireplace.

I sit down in a nearby chair and keep my eyes fixated towards the door. 

Let the night begin.


	4. Reveal

A couple hours into the night, everyone is asleep and quietly snoring, thankfully. There are no lights on since the windows are bare. I start to think how I ended up with this group in the first place. Brian was the one to find me, bleeding out. I honestly thought I was going to die that day. The group I was with before I met these people, had left me for dead. They thought I was a lost cause because I was bitten. I was honestly happy that they had left me, but at the same time I wasn’t. Being dead meant that I would never know what happened to my daughter, or even know that I am resistant to this disease. The bite didn’t make me ‘turn’ like how everyone did, it stayed like a cut for awhile then turned into a scar. 

No one knows about the bite besides Brian. I remember him clearly looking at the bite and staring me in the eyes. Usually when people get bitten, it takes about 2-3 hours for your body to be completely taken over by it. In this case, my bite was a day old. He kept looking at me like he was contemplating something. Either to kill me right there or just leave me and not tell the others that he found me. He looked at the bite then pulled out bandages from his bag and wrapped my torso in it. He then stood up and left the room I was in. At least he helped me in a way… Then he came back into the room with Frank, Matt and Zack. They all looked at me and asked me questions if I got robbed by survivors or if I got bit. I said no to those questions.

I got interrupted by Brian suddenly sitting down on a nearby chair beside me.  
“What the fuck is up with you?” Brian whispers. I stare at him like he doesn’t know what he’s talking about.  
“Look, I know you were bit before yet nothing happened. I know something else happened on the supply run too. Don’t act like I’m stupid Jimmy.”   
“There were still humans in there. They weren’t turned yet, but they were losing a lot of blood. We didn’t want to just leave them there and let them turn, so Frank had an idea to kill them. I didn’t want to do it. He didn’t want to do it either. So, I did it. Seeing how they look at you before you pull the trigger haunts me.” I say, keeping my voice low and emotionless.

Brian just looked at me, trying to process what I said to him.  
“Get over it. Shit happens dude. The world you still think exists, doesn’t. The world doesn’t work like that anymore.” Brian glares.  
“Why did you even save me?” I ask.  
“Because I’ve seen you around Long Beach before with your kid. Plus, I’ve seen where you got bit. I figured maybe you could help people not get turned.” Brian says, louder than expected.  
“You were bit?” Zack asks. 

I turn and see everyone sitting up on the beds, staring at us. I nod slowly, waiting for their reactions.  
“When?” Matt asks while he starts getting up.  
“A day before Brian found me.” I say quietly.  
“Well… why are you still human? I mean, if you got bit you’re infected.” Frank says.  
“I don’t know. All I know is that I’m going to Ottawa. If the people there have an answer for me, then I’ll help with a cure if they can do it. That isn’t my main priority.” I say.  
“You have the power to fix all this shit right now, but that isn’t your priority?” Brian laughs.

“Look Brian. I’m looking for my daughter. I have been for the past five years.” I say.  
“Doesn’t seem like you are looking that hard honestly…” Frank says quietly.  
I turn my head towards him and look at him in disbelief. I never knew they thought like that. I thought I found a group that supported my search, but I guess not. I know I probably sound like a little bitch but it felt like betrayal. 

“Why are you guys even with me now? I told you guys I was going to Ottawa to find my daughter, and you guys followed me along! Does this not look like I’m searching for her?” I yell.  
“Because every time you are alone you end up getting hurt! That’s why we came with you, just to look after you!” Brian yells.  
“Since when the fuck did you start caring about my choices Brian? I would’ve been perfectly capable doing this alone!” I yell back.  
“I cared since I fucking found you when your group left you for dead! If I didn’t fucking care about anyone I would’ve been alone! You don’t fucking understand Jimmy, just because you are immune to whatever the fuck is being spread, doesn’t mean your invincible.” Brian says, anger laced with each word.  
I stare at all of them and shake my head. The guilt was killing me. Why do they have to make this so fucking difficult?

“You guys don’t understand anything. I don’t want to explain everything, it would be easier if I just left.” I say quietly. Matt looks at me, curious. “You don’t know about Johnny.”  
“What the fuck are you talking about?” Zack demands.  
“He was in the group who left me for dead.” I whisper. “What?!” Matt walks up to me and grabs me by the shirt. He then throws me to the ground and pulls out his gun. “Better start talking Jimmy, I don’t give a fuck if you’re immune but this bullet will be the last thing you see if you don’t.” Matt snarls.

I look around at the rest of the guys and their all glaring at me, waiting for an answer.

Fuck.


End file.
